The downturn has forced Spanish fashion giant Cortefiel to review its UK expansion, but global franchise boss Alex Cara tells Amy Shields that growth is still on the agenda for the retailer.
Cortefiel franchise boss Alex Cara’s retail career began in the stockroom at a Benetton store in Southend-on-Sea, Essex. It was a fairly standard route in to the industry, except for one problem. Cara is colour blind.
“Imagine being a stockroom boy, where everything is every colour,” he laughs. “On the first day, 160 boxes came from Italy and I had to code them up. I had to memorise all the colour codes.”
Cara’s determination led to the discovery of a flair for product and for making sales, and kick-started a love affair with retail. By the age of 20 he was managing the store.
These beginnings are far removed from the jet-setting world of global franchising in which he now operates. Before joining Spanish apparel giant Cortefiel, Cara – who was born in the UK to a South African father and Indian mother – had been in charge of 400 stores as retail director for Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa for sports brand Nike.
“I wanted to get back in to pure retailing,” he explains of his move to Cortefiel. “It was a global role with the scope to launch more brands.” Cara joined in 2005 to continue the retailer’s expansion of its younger fashion brand Springfield and lingerie retailer Women’s Secret. Within a year, he launched the group’s eponymous fashion brand overseas.
The changes in ownership of Cortefiel at the time of his joining – private equity giants Permira, PAI and CVC bought Cortefiel for E1.4bn (£1.24bn) in July 2005 – made the brand more “interesting”, he adds. Read more.
